Spirited Away
by Greed's Accident
Summary: People dissappearing into this air, and a school that thinks its doing a good job covering it up. The SPR takes on a case, while trying to make sure that the majority of the people they deal with don't know what they're doing.
1. Spirited Away 1

Hello. Sorry to those of you who were waiting for something else. I really wanted to get started on this. Its an Idea I've been playing around with for the past week or so, so yeah. I hope it is satisfactory to the people who read it. Thankyou for opening this story, I hope you aren't disappointed. Oh.. and its not related to the movie by Hayao Miyazaki in the slightest.

And its not related to my other stories. I just felt like writing this. I will finish the other one kay?

Hokay so normally I do a short sort of beginning, but not today. Full chapter. So yeah!

Note- Akemasu (According to my Japanese english dictionary) means to open. Sorry if I use it weird. forgive me. It just sounded cool... yeah...

Disclaimer- I do not own ghost hunt. This disclaimer applies to all subsequent chapter of this story.

* * *

1-

"Hey! Are you sure we can do this?"

"Theres no rule directly against it, now is there?"

"Actually, I think there is."

"What?"

"Rule Book page 18, section 10, subsection 4, topic 2, line 3: _Access to the back buildings past 21:00 is strictly prohibited unless direct written permission is a acquired 3 days prior to when you_... umm... _go to the building... _or something."

"No way... You actually know the rule book? I thought that people like that don't really exist."

"I have a semi-photographic memory. Its habit to go over things like that. But really isn't it kind of obvious that they don't want us going over there? What with the fences, and vines, and thick forest stuff?"

"No way! You mean we're _not_ supposed to do _anything_ that the rule book says we can't do?"

"Yeah.. generally that's the way it works."

"Oh that thing is stupid!"

"Yeah, come on, you're coming with us."

"Yeah!"

"Fine, but if we get caught, I'm saying that I only came to try and get you guys to change your mind, and I want you to agree with me okay?"

"Right. Lets go."

* * *

Mai sat down on the couch after getting her boss some tea. She sighed and sipped a cup of her own before looking at her watch one last time. She didn't have school tomorrow, and Naru had some files that required immediate filing... for some reason. So he decreed that she would stay until it was done or until he left the office for the night. Which ever came first. So here she was, 9:30 at night taking a break, hoping that Naru would walk out of his office.

But at 9:45, she figured Naru wasn't planning on leaving before she finished, so she settled down back into a regular rhythm of work, conquering the pile that prevented her from going home and sleeping. There was not much left, but Mai figured it'd take until 10:30. If she really tried, maybe earlier, but she was tired. Not much else to it.

She started making pretty good time, The pile decreased faster than she thought, and she had only about 2 cm (little less than an inch) left. She lay her head down and looked at it from the side. Although the action reminded her just how sleepy she was. By 10:15, she conquered the pile, and cheered to herself.

She poked her head into Naru's office, and saw him rapidly typing. The light was off, so the only source of illumination in the room was the screen of the computer which sat in front of Naru. Mai sighed and debated turning on the lights. It was bad for his vision. But it wasn't really her place to act like a mother. Though that made Mai wonder just what kind of person his mother was.

"I've finished, okay? So I'm going home." She said, closing the door, not waiting for a response.

* * *

Nayuki, Chizu, Aoi, and Kazu were sneaking into the one of the buildings in the back of their school. Nayuki was against it. She was the most responsible of the group. Chizu was all for it. Aoi and Kazu had heard that there was a building that had a door that didn't lock. And some senpai passed down the knowledge to them that there was alcohol or something hidden in the basement, where no teachers would go. They had told Chizu of this fact. Nayuki was unaware.

They belonged to a boarding school which was proud to offer students complete schooling education right up to University level courses. It was called Akemasu Academy. Named as such for the doors which it opens for it's students.

Nayuki looked around one last time as Chizu carefully hopped down from the fence, caught by Aoi who helped her to her feet. "All right come on." She whispered. "You can do this!"

Nayuki sighed. Of course she could. She was better at P.E. than Chizu was. But did she want to? Even if she hadn't caught wind of the reason everyone else was going, she knew something was up. After all, the school buildings weren't that exciting at night. Last chance to make the decision to go home and sleep.

Nayuki scaled the fence and softly landed on the other side, ignoring Aoi's outstretched hand. "Oh." he said. "I guess that works too."

Kazu looked around, then motioned for the others to follow him. "Right! According to senpai, we should go along this fence until we get the the tree that grown right beside it." A ways into the distance, Nayuki could see said tree. "Then we head inwards, towards the buildings. The unlocked entrance should be the only one that we see if we look only straight."

There was a general sense of agreement, and the party of four headed out.

At the tree, they turned. Chizu pointed. There was one door they could see. It had to be the right one. Kazu moved forward faster than before, nearly running. Nayuki watched as the others sprinted as well. She still felt as if she were doing the wrong thing.

Maybe she would honestly try to get them to turn around.

Or... not. But a word of general caution was in order. "Slow down guys..." She said, carefully stepping to make less noise than the others did. "There may be people around that know of the door and thereby patrol the area to prevent renegade students from getting in."

Chizu laughed. "Yeah right. The building may as well be abandoned. Theres nothing of value in it. So even if there was a door on the back that didn't lock, it wouldn't be a priority. Come on, quit lagging behind."

Nayuki sped up. She wondered how long the door hadn't been lockable. After all, the senpais had talked about it like it had always been that way. Maybe one day the school would decide that it was a priority to have it lockable. Maybe that would be today! She was about to call it to the group as Kazu tried the door, which silently swung open.

But she stopped. They always told her she needed to become less strict. Relax a bit. Calm down. That sort of thing. _'Breaking the rules is a skill. The first time you'll be really nervous, so you have to learn to get over the nervousness. Come on. Its an important life skill.'_ That was what Chizu, Kazu and Aoi were always saying.

She moved towards the door frame held open by Aoi.

* * *

Mai moved into the streets and sighed seeing that rain now fell from the sky. It hadn't been raining 2 hours ago,when she would have normally left. And now she was going to get wet. And it was Naru's fault. But rather than being angry like she would have been usually, she was more sad. Rain didn't suit her, and especially not late at night. Mai wondered how wet she would be when she got home, and prayed she wouldn't catch a cold.

Although, she was glad she didn't have any papers or sheets with her because they would have been soaked. Now, it was just her that was wet. After she arrived home, she took a warm shower. She felt uncharacteristically down. After drying her hair, she changed into warm pajamas, and fell asleep wondering if she would feel better tomorrow.

* * *

Nayuki followed the others through the building. For some reason everyone other than her already had decided they were going to basement. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she followed, but lagged behind. And once in the basement, she saw nothing interesting. So she decided to leave them to look for whatever fun they were planning on having, deciding for sure that she didn't want to be involved.

"I'll stand upstairs and warn you guys if something happens." Nayuki left the scene.

Chizu sighed once Nayuki was out of range. "Well I guess that does solve a problem. Out of curiosity, were you guys really expecting her to have some?"

Aoi shrugged. "I guess that her coming this far was enough. Eventually we may be able to get her to relax more. She takes everything too seriously."

Kazu sighed. "I wasn't sure about bringing her along. I don't want something to happen that turns her away from us. After all, we may not be much, but we're the only friends she has. I almost feel bad that she had to fall in with us." He said. Kazu, immediately after seeing the girl, knew that he liked her. Once he got to know her, there was only more reasons why he kept her close. He felt like a bit of a bodyguard, trying (to some extent) to prevent her from becoming like them. The way he acted with the others, encouraging her to go with them when they didn't follow the rules, was only so the others of the group wouldn't notice. They hadn't yet, so things worked out okay, and he didn't get bugged about the way he felt.

Aoi nodded. "Right then. In the broken vent. The Senpai said that they stock it for people like us, and that they figured we were 'worthy to know'. So I guess this is the moment of truth. Are we idiots, or are they for telling us where it is?"

Chizu did the honours of opening the makeshift cupboard. Sure enough, inside was a stash of alcohol. Enough for 7 people to get completely wasted. There was only three of them (Assuming Nayuki would stay away).

Chizu grabbed three bottles, and passed them around.

Kazu grabbed a bottle and opened it. Before taking a drink, he wondered what Nayuki would think if they all came back up drunk, or passed out wasted on the floor. But that didn't stop him.

Meanwhile Nayuki carefully climbed the stairs. Once she was alone, she regretted leaving. Be alone was worse than being in a group because if she was caught, what would she say now?

Nayuki went back to the door, and walked out, examining the lock. It didn't look like it would take much to fix it. She was examining the handle carefully, when muffled footsteps from two people made her turn. Luckily the door was quiet, and she closed it silently before dashing to the tree and hiding.

She saw a member of the security team at the school as well as one of teachers walk up to the door. A light rain started to fall.

"Aww, great. Rain. lets get this over with. Like I said, this door has been bugging me. I don't think anyone else knows, but it doesn't lock." The security team member said to the teacher. "You know how to fix this sort of thing right?"

The teacher looked at it. He examined it just as Nayuki had. "Yeah, don't even need any others tools. Okay so all I have to do is..." He leaned over a bit, and there were some light clicking sounds. "That should do it. It'll lock fine now. See?" The teacher closed the door, then tried to open it again. It didn't open.

"Perfect! Lets go, the rain is getting heavy fast." The two people left. Nayuki immediately ran to the door. She tried it, just to make sure. Then she looked for something to use to pick it. But even if she had something people stereotypically use to unlock doors, she wouldn't have known how. She went back to the tree as the rain got harder and harder. Hiding under its foliage, Nayuki was protected from most of the rain, but she still became soaked.

It was half an hour later, a half hour that Nayuki spent sulking, that Kazu opened the door. He didn't look quite right, as if he were very much imbalanced. Nayuki, while naive and uneducated as to exactly what he was feeling ,could tell right away _exactly_ what everyone else had come for. The door shut behind Kazu, and Nayuki knew that she would have to do something with Kazu, and getting him out of here, or back into the building would be hard if not impossible.

When she had first come to this school, which was the previous year, she felt very alone. because most people did all of their schooling there, it made for a very closed sort of society. The newcomers were lonely. Chizu's roommate had gotten sick of her, and moved to another room, so Nayuki had the choice to stay with her, or alone in an area that very few people went to. Figuring she might make a friend, Nayuki chose to stay with Chizu. She met Chizu's friends Aoi and Kazu soon after. They had made her feel more welcome, and soon she was a part of their group except when they broke the rules. Tonight she had felt closer to the group, but was still scared of getting in trouble.

The other think that happened when she met the group, she learned something new. She had spent her entire life so far not caring for anything other than studying, doing her best, and stuff like that. But when Chizu had introduced her to Kazu and Aoi, she changed. Kazu... He seemed so nice. She thought he was something special right away, and the more she got to know him, the more she wanted to be near him. He had even given her a necklace that she never took off. Although she hid it under her shirt.

Thats why right now, she felt more than slightly uncomfortable. Nayuki knew that chances are, he wouldn't remember anything from right now later so she could... No she wouldn't. The way they got along now was just fine. She didn't need anything more. Especially nothing that he wouldn't remember.

Kazu moved towards her, through the rain. "Nayuki..." He said, brushing the rain from his face. "Come here." Nayuki almost believed for a moment that she was wrong and that he completely understood what he was doing. But she stood still. Kazu moved towards her more. Then pulled her close. "I'm really sorry. I'm not sure I can do this any longer."

Nayuki, completely shocked and slightly happy inside, could smell the alcohol on his breath. And that made her uncomfortable. He wouldn't do anything that she would be upset about... right? "What... I don't understand..."

"Pretending I don't care." He kissed her forehead. and hugged her more. Nayuki was frozen in place for a moment. This was wrong. Even if she liked him, this wasn't him. Not real. Not real...

She pushed him away. The sadness built up inside her from sitting in the rain finally exploded as tears on her face. But they weren't visible in the rain. "No... thats not right. Don't lie to me! I'm not... I'm not going to let you do this and get away with it just because you're drunk!"

"I can't stand you!" She said, and fell to her knees

"Nayuki!" he cried, but Nayuki didn't hear. Although it wasn't because she wasn't listening, it wasn't because of the rain. It was because another voice was speaking to her.

_Its okay... calm down... Lets go.. lets leave, not here... let's go... let's go... let's go..._

Nayuki calmed her crying, but the dull ache of sadness was still there, and the rain still beat on her shoulders.

_let's go... let's go... let's go..._

Nayuki felt hands on her shoulders, that worked there way up her neck over her eyes. She ripped off the necklace Kazu gave her.

_let's go... let's go... let's go..._

The hand secured themselves on her eyes.

Kazu, who wasn't quite completely out of it, blinked. One moment Nayuki was sitting there calming down. Now, all that remained was the imprint that she had left in the ground, and a shining silver something on the ground. Suddenly feeling a lot more sober than before, he picked it up, and his eyes widened. Nayuki had disappeared.

Gone.

Right in front of his face.

* * *

The next morning, Mai woke up late. Really late. It was noon. She threw back breakfast and grabbed something to wear before dashing out the door. She waved to a couple neighbours before exiting the building and slowing down. People tended to stare at people who run around in the streets, and Mai didn't need that. She still felt a bit down still, but put on a smile, and made her way to the place she should have been hours ago.

_Ah well... it can't be helped now..._ She arrived at the office. No one was in the main area, so Mai simply sat down. About 5 minutes had passed when she decided to make some tea as a peace offering. As she started making tea, Naru came out of his office, and nearly at the same time Takigawa came in. Naru scolded Mai. "You should have been here hours ago."

Takigawa looked at Mai. "You just got here too? Wow.. thats some sleeping in."

Mai frowned at Naru. "I was up late. And that would be your fault." Mai wondered breifly when Naru had left. If he even had left last night.

Naru didn't say anything, but rather sat down on the couch. Mai finished with the tea and put a cup in front of Takigawa and Naru.

"I received a call from a school wishing that we take a new case. I haven't decided if we will." Naru said as Mai sat down, with nothing much to do.

"Oh? Why?" Asked Mai. Usually he was pretty sure if he wanted to or didn't want to.

"Well, from the sounds of it someone disappeared right in front of someone. But its only one person. The validity of the witness's statement also comes to play. I told them to call back in a week if more people go missing, and we may come." Naru said.

Mai smiled. She knew it wasn't good if people disappeared, but she thought it would be nice to have a case.

Naru put down an empty tea cup, and Takigawa stretched out. "Its been a while since we had a case." he said. "I guess if he doesn't call back in a week we'll know nothing's up."

Mai figured the week would probably move slower just because she was excited about whether or not they would have a case.


	2. Spirited Away 2

My original draft for this chapter disappeared for some inexplicable reason! It just disappeared! Its insane. Considering the story.. right? Aheh... I'm not joking though. I'd finished half of it, then it went all missing on me. gosh.

I forgot to put this in the first chapter: There will be no major spoilers. I know the general gist of most of the big ones, so I try to avoid things that people that know about the spoilers would think about and say 'No.. that can't happen!' And I'm debating a character dying. Although I'm not sure yet.

Disclaimer: In the first chapter.

* * *

_Spirited Away  
_2-

Akemasu Academy was going through a bit of a rough time. Over the week, people started disappearing. The day after Nayuki, on day one, just 2 disappeared. But it increased to 3 on the second day, 5 on the third, 7 on the fourth, then 8, 10, and 16 respectively. This made the total number 52 people.

So the school, which had a total population of over 13,000 (Including all staff members) Did just about the only thing they could do. They tried to cover it up. They told the students that they had introduced a new idea- a special intensive study class. And people would be randomly selected for it, from all age groups. And without any advance warning they would simply be told, and be taken. Though there was one disappearance that could not be accounted for in this manner. That was a student named Nayuki Amazara

And of course, the majority of students didn't believe the lie at all. But there was one in particular that didn't believe. He was a part of the high school faction. His name was Kazu Ometoru. And he was absolutely sure that it was a lie. He swore he saw Nayuki disappear in front of him. So he did his best to try and get others to believe him. As of yet, he didn't think he was helping, but he was casting general doubt on something that people were already suspicious about.

So the school called a group that they had talked to after the first disappearance. But they were in a bit of a bind. So far, they ruse had prevented anyone from getting to close to the truth, and they had done their best to prevent word from getting to the public through media. But requesting aid from a psychic group would not be optimal. So there would be some more deception required.

* * *

A week from the day Mai had woke up at noon, Mai did the exact opposite. She woke up at six in the morning, and was out the door early. Unable to contain the excitement she felt for the new case (Or at least, what she hoped would be the beginning of a new case) she was almost certain that the sooner she arrived, the better.

Humming as she made her way to the SPR office, she was surprised to see Ayako and Takigawa there before her. Takigawa was surprised to see Mai.

"Mai! You're early! Had called your home, but there was no answer, so I figured you were still sleeping. Everyone should be around soon." He said as Mai started to make tea.

"Well then. I guess that means whomever called last week has called back?" Mai asked over her shoulder.

"I suppose thats what it means."

Mai smiled to herself at first, but then decided that was the wrong reaction. If the place called back, that would mean that more people had disappeared. Disappearing was not good. So being happy was bad. Even if it meant a new case. "I hope, if that is the situation, we can help them."

Takigawa shrugged. "Considering the fact that we have Naru, I don't see it being an issue. After all, theres never been a single case he couldn't figure out. So I don't see why we wont be able to this time."

Mai finished with the tea and brought it out only to have John and Masako arrive through the door. Mai scurried back to the kitchen to grab more cups while Takigawa welcomed them. "Its good to see you guys. Naru should be with us shortly now that every one is here." He raised his voice for the last bit.

Ayako sipped her tea and looked over to Lin's door, then Naru's. Neither one moved. "They aren't good at taking hints."

Mai knocked on Naru's door. "Naru... I made tea. Do you want me to bring it in or have a cup ready out here for you?"

Naru chose the latter non-verbally, by opening the door and sitting down on the couch. Mai poured a cup and handed it to him.

"Last week we received a message about the disappearance of a student at a boarding school called Akemasu Academy. Based on some conditions surrounding a witness who says the person vanished right in front of him, I had reason to believe the student wasn't sure of what happened. But instead, it may have been something paranormal. Each day since then a number of students has disappeared as well, increasing each day, to a total of 52 when I got the message this morning." Naru said, putting a file on the desk that contained a few pictures and newspaper articles about Akemasu Academy. Ayako picked it up to flip through it.

Takigawa nodded. "So under those conditions, we're heading out. And what of Yasuhara-san? Will he not be assisting us?" Takigawa asked.

"We are only allowed a limited number of people because..." Naru started, but Ayako, not really thinking about who was talking, interjected.

"Hey! Theres not a single article about disappearances in here! At 52 missing you think the press would have the story front page!" Ayako said, dropping the folder on the table. "What gives?"

Naru gave her a look, then answered. "The school has created a cover up, saying that the students have been moved to a pilot project intensive study program which isolates them from other students. We will be there under the ruse of being a group of reporters who have caught wind of it. We'll be approaching it from the angle that we don't believe it. They don't want a large group, so they have asked us to keep to 7 people. Yasuhara-san, if possible, will aid us wirelessly."

"When do we head out?" Mai asked.

"3 Hours. Lin is already on scene. Anyone who needs some time to prepare may do so now. Be back within 2 1/2 hours." Naru stood up and walked back into his office.

Mai muttered to Takigawa. "Anyone could pack for Naru, you know? Just throw in anything black."

* * *

Arriving at Akemasu Academy was amazing. Mai had ridden with Masako and Takigawa, so she arrived in a good mood. As Ayako stepped out of the vehicle Naru had been in, Mai knew she made the right decision. Ayako looked not only irritated, but bored and tired. Mai was glad she didn't have to drive one of the vehicles. Since Lin was already on location, Ayako volunteered.

"Ayako! How was your drive?" Mai said fully knowing the answer.

"Terrible. The only way it would have been worse was if Naru was a vocal backseat driver. He just spent the time looking like he figured we were going to crash any second. I'll drive back alone in Lin's vehicle on the way home, thanks." She said, sighing. "I guess you had fun."

Mai wasn't going to say that Masako had been a damper, because she was right there, but she had been. Masako's presence limited the conversation topics. Though it wasn't that bad. Mai and the medium had gotten to be a lot closer as of late. "Yeah... but whatever. This place looks so cool! Look! Theres a forest, and..."

Mai was cut off by a voice that didn't belong to an SPR member. "You must be SPR. My name is Horyo Atsuru." A tall person in a gray suit introduced himself. He had thin gray hair and brown eyes. He looked unremarkable in every way. "I am here to show you the way to the place where you will be staying as well as where your base is. I also have some details I need to go over." He surveyed the group, eyes falling on Takigawa. "I was told the boss was in this group. Would that be you?"

Takigawa nearly said that it was, just to see what Naru would do, but Naru got Atsuru's attention first. "Atsuru-san, that would be me. My name is Kazuya Shibuya."

"Pardon my mistake, but I wasn't expecting that young... oh pardon me. Follow me with your belongings please." Atsuru walked back in the direction he had come from.

They walked for a short period of time, before they had reached an older looking building. Mai couldn't help but wonder if it had a few ghosts of its own. A glance towards Takigawa showed that he had the same thought.

"There are enough rooms on the same floor for everyone to have their own. There is a small commons kitchen that we stocked up. Should you require anything else, please tell any one of our staff members. Your other member has already set up the base on the second of three floors, so we ask that you all stay on the same floor."

The building had a fairly simple design. It was one of the older buildings, and used to be used as a dorm, but it was going to be fixed up in a few weeks, so they had moved the students out of it. Each floor had one hallway, and all the rooms on the same side. In the middle, there was a small kitchen, and a staircase. There were 8 rooms on a floor, 4 on each side of the kitchen, so there were just enough for all the members of SPR, as well as a base.

The room directly to the left of the kitchen was the base. Lin had the next room over, and Naru had the room after that. Mai, not aware of those choices, picked the farthest one on the left, because it had two windows and a small porch. On the other side of the kitchen, Ayako chose the first room, with Takigawa beside, then John, and Masako. Masako's, the farthest from Mai's, also had a small porch. Atsuru said that those rooms would have cost a bit more to rent, but that they were going to be removing them with the renovations.

Moments after Mai had put all her stuff in her room, she heard a call to the base. Upon arriving, everything was already set up, although the screens were blank, and the cameras were lined up in a corner, waiting to be moved to new locations. Masako walked in just after Mai, the last person to arrive.

Atsuru spoke first. "As you are aware, you are here as a small newspaper company. Should any students press you to find out how you got permission when many other newspapers can't, I'm not sure what you should say, but please don't reveal your true purpose."

"Please keep your discussions with the students in line with this. We know that they don't believe what we have told them, so we would appreciate if you were to not ask things that give away your true purpose here. And should you need to do anything that is very blatantly obviously an exorcism, we ask that you talk to us first so we may isolate the area, and prevent the students from knowing."

Atsuru picked up a folder that was sitting on the table. In it were two lists with pictures, and a sheet with writing. "The first list here is a list of students with pictures. These are the people who have disappeared. If more students disappear, we will give you updated lists. The seconds list is all the people who are aware of what is going on. There are some students who have been let in. But these students are trustworthy enough. They report who has gone missing in the morning. The final sheet is the details the principal wishes you to know." He stood up and bowed. "Please do your best to help us. Is there anyone in specific you'd like to speak to?"

Mai looked at the sheet while Naru responded. It explained how the school discovered who was missing in the morning, and explained in more detail the first disappearance, or at least what they knew of it. It also said that the students who were 'in' had spread around that anyone who wanted to talk could go to the old building, and that there were people there that were investigating things.

"Anyone who was close to someone who disappeared. And Kazu Ometoru." Atsuru nodded.

"Because we are under the pretense that the staff members are adverse to your presence, I will have someone else bring him right away." He bowed again and left.

* * *

Everyone was out scouting the grounds near the building they were staying in. Mai thought that maybe Naru agreed with her assessment that the building was haunted in a way unrelated to the case at hand. But an hour later when they assembled and shared what they learned, it did not appear to be so. All Mai had done was stand on the roof and look around, since she didn't think she'd be particularly helpful anyway. She wished she could do more, but that required talent that could only be acquired at birth. All she could do was dream things that were related to what they saw. But Mai still didn't trust her dreams.

Mai reported that there was a great view from the roof, then sat down. Masako reported that she could feel that the missing students weren't 'gone', but she couldn't tell where they were. She verified that it was supernatural. Mai sighed, the feeling of her own uselessness setting in.

It was just as they were wrapping that up that there was a knock on the door. 3 female students waited on the other side. It was time to get started.

The girls introduced themselves as some of the students on the inside. "We are leaders of the floors of the building we stay in. Each of us have had a few disappearances of our own. In the morning, we ask if there is anyone that has vanished. Then we say that it's been requested that we take their stuff to their current location. For now, that is actually the top floor of this building." The first one explained. "Oh... My name is Asa Hamani."

The second started talking. "My name is Haruka Nanoko. The other buildings that have someone missing are only missing one or two. Theres a definite trend towards our building. 2 from the first floor, 3 from the second, and 1 from the top. Other buildings seem to have no more than 2 or 3 in total missing. And the older age groups lean towards more as well. The one from the top floor is actually the first disappearance, Nayuki Amazara"

The last one finished. "My name is Hana Ginro. I've been processing all the information about missing students. 9 of them are aged 12 and under. 29 aged between 13 and 18, and the remaining 14 have been both university students, and staff members, 19 and older. Although now that I think about it, of the 12 and under, the only students to vanish were 11 and 12. No one younger."

Mai thought about the ages. That must mean something. What set teenagers apart from young children, and adults?

"There's a group of three students outside. One of them said they saw someone disappear right in front of him." Asa said.

"But..." Hana added quietly. "Everyone knows that those students went out drinking. When they got back saying she was gone, they were drunk still. So... well... But she hasn't re-appeared. People have looked."

Haruka bowed. "Tomorrow I'll bring the updated list, if anyone else disappears." the three of them left, and three new students, two boys and a girl walked in.

They sat down. Nobody said anything for a moment. Naru shuffled some papers. The first person to break the silence was him, but he didn't direct anything at the guests. "Mai. Get me some tea."

Frankly, Mai was happy to be out of the situation. To tense for her liking. "Ah, yes. Going."

Mai was out of there. but even though the base was right next to the kitchen, she still had to get the tea she had brought from the office. Then she went back, and had to find where everything was. But the electricity wasn't on in that kitchen, so she went to find the circuit box to see if the issue was there. After finding it was flicked off, she switched it back, and made her way back to the small kitchen. Finally the power worked, but now that she looked, the kettle was a bit scuzzy, so she cleaned that, then finally made some tea. Mai was not looking forward to what would be waiting for her in the office though. The longer it took, the more time Naru was waiting.

Just after Mai left, Naru started talking to the guests. "Tell me what happened." He said, and They started the story.

The girl introduced herself as Chizune Asume. "We were going out during the evening, sneaking back into one of the buildings, and we asked Nayuki if she.. I mean Nayuki Amazara if she would come with us. She's been our friend for a while, but she doesn't like breaking the rules. But we offered and she decided that she wanted to." Chizune cut off there. She looked to the boy next to her.

The boy next to her started speaking after telling them his name was Aoi Suyoi. "There's a building with a door that doesn't lock. We were told how to find it, so we wanted to see if it was a lie. So we decided to go out late at night, when it would have been locked if it could have been locked, and see if it was true." here he paused and looked to the final person, who didn't respond. He continued. "It was. We got in and were exploring. But Nayuki was so nervous... we told her that if she waited outside, we'd be out right away, but we... forgot." Aoi didn't know if the people in the room knew what they were really doing. "Kazu went back outside. Something happened and the door, which didn't lock, got fixed. So he and Nayuki couldn't get back in. By the time Chizu and I decided we should go back out, he was alone, and it was raining. I don't know what really happened."

Kazu Ometoru looked over at the other two. He introduced himself quietly. Then picked up his voice. "When I got outside it was raining heavily, and Nayuki was hiding under a tree a ways away. She was upset about something. I don't remember everything I did or said," But it looked like exactly the opposite. He seemed to be quite sure of what happened, but preferring not to talk about it. "But she got more upset, and fell to her knees in the mud crying. She sat there for a bit, but started calming down. Then just when thought she might look up or something, she ripped off a necklace that she always wore," Once again, there seemed like there was more to it. "and vanished. She _didn't _stand up and walk or run away. She _disappeared._"

"I know what I saw."

* * *

Naru dismissed Chizu and Aoi. They didn't know anything about the event he wanted to know about anyway. They walked past the little kitchen and saw the girl that Naru had sent out to get tea scrubbing at a kettle humming softly. Mai was it?

"Its creepy. That girl... she so cheerful! Washing a pot!" Chizu muttered softly.

Aoi frowned. "Thats not the only thing weird about her. What did you think when you first saw her?"

Chizu shook her head. "I didn't believe it at first, but its certainly someone else."

Mai was still scrubbing the kettle, oblivious to that which was around her.

* * *

Back at the base, Naru asked more questions about what had happened. It got boring. To the point that only John, Lin, Naru and Kazu remained in the room. Masako and Ayako left to survey the place that Nayuki had supposedly disappeared from. Takigawa disappeared making lame excuses about something. And John sensed there was a tension that he felt uncomfortable with. He left deciding to try and catch up with Masako and Ayako. All passed by Mai, who was now sanitizing the cups while the Tea boiled. None disrupted the humming teen.

Kazu felt steadily more uncomfortable about the situation. With everyone leaving, the room felt much bigger. Finally Naru asked the question which was bugging him the most, now that there was no one around, save Lin.

"When you walked in, you looked directly at my assistant." There was no question stated. Lin, who had been busy looking for a map of the campus paused for a moment, but resumed his speed.

Kazu wasn't sure what to say, even though the question was obvious.

_'Why?'_

Although probably more along the lines of '_**Why**_**!**'

Naru didn't clarify what he meant aloud. Kazu took a careful breath. "She looks a lot like Nayuki. Her voice is really different, but other than that they could be dopplegangers or something. Even twins without knowing."

Naru didn't show if this response was satisfactory, but instead dismissed Kazu silently by leaving the room.

Kazu looked to Lin. "Then, I'll be leaving." Lin nodded in response. But instead of leaving, he asked a question. "What was that girls name anyway?"

Lin debated answering or not, but decided it would do no harm. "Mai Taniyama."

Kazu nodded and left, passing by the kitchen where Mai was explaining to Naru that the state of the kitchen was terrible, and that she would have to scrub everything down properly before it could be used.

"Look! First I had to grab the tea, but when I got here there was no electricity. So I searched for the circuit box thing and turned it back on. But then I noticed the kettle was nasty inside. and the cups were scuzzy, but I'm done now. The cups are all good for use, and so anyone can have tea. Plates and bowls and such need to be cleaned still. So I'll do that then." Mai said, attempting to give a good excuse for her late-ness.

Naru looked around the kitchen. The talk of plates being cleaned reminded Mai of other meals. Would everyone be on their own, first to get it in their mouth gets to eat it sort of thing? Probably.

Mai pulled out a stack of dishes and started scrubbing. Naru went back to the Base.


	3. Spirited Away 3

My my! Thanks to zeroseconds. I just noticed that I had turned off my spell check because I was writing to my French penpal. I wondered why my typing was alluva suddn prfcet!

Now that it is back on, I have updated the previous chapters... ERK! I should have realized with all the 'teh's I fixed subconsciously!

So, while I rarely do dedications, this chapter is dedicated to zeroseconds. Thank you for pointing it out!

Disclaimer: In the first chapter.

* * *

_Spirited Away  
3_-

Masako, Ayako and John had all returned to the base after scouting out the location that Nayuki had disappeared from. Takigawa was still missing, and Mai was still washing dishes. Naru and Lin were in the base talking to a new group of students. Following behind Ayako was another group of students that had something to say to SPR.

Naru dismissed the group that was in the room just as Ayako opened the door. "We're back." Ayako said, in a sing-song-y tone.

Naru threw her a look that read, 'Oh really.'

Masako was about to report that they didn't feel anything from that place, but she realized that that wouldn't have done much to convince the group of three students behind her that they were a regular newspaper. Luckily enough, no one had pointed out that they were carting around a famous medium. But only time would tell if their cover would be broken.

"We looked at the location. There is nothing to note." Masako said instead.

Naru nodded, and turned his attention to the group of girls behind them.

"Ahh... we have a story that we haven't told anyone yet. But it proves the school is lying... will you listen?" The girl in front asked. She had light brown hair.

"Tell me what happened." Naru said, and the girls sat down on the couch.

Mai chose that moment to be finished with the dishes, and entered the room, carrying a cup of tea for her employer. She quietly entered. She had heard the people walking behind her, so she didn't say anything. But the girls remained silent until Mai had taken a seat on a chair and started to listen in.

"Is it okay if I don't tell you my first name?" Naru nodded. "I'm scared of what the school would do if they found out about this.. and I have 4 siblings here... Minazuki... anyway."

"Our friend, Kikuyu Shunei had heard Ometoru-san talking about Amazara-san... she believed him, and decided to test the school... she figured people were really disappearing. So she hid in my room. Her room was next door, with someone else who wasn't 'in' on the plan. We didn't tell her. But anyway. So she snuck over to our room in the night. And in the morning, the girl in charge of our floor asked if anyone had been taken to the class. We said that she had, and her room mate was in hysterics saying she had no idea what was going on."

Another one of the three spoke up now. "See, we were acting shocked, so I guess they really believed us. Oh, my name is Umisano. Anyway, so in the afternoon, there were some people from the faculty who came to get her stuff. We saw them in the hallway. Kiku... Shunei-san begged us to get one thing out of it, an item really important to her. She told us that she couldn't let it get away from her because if it was gone she didn't know what she'd do. We all know about it, so we tried to convince the person getting her stuff that it was ours, but he took it anyway."

"And you won't tell us what it was?" Naru asked.

The third spoke. "I don't think that she would like it if we did... please... just believe that it was significant to her, but worthless to anyone else. I'm Shikoku." Naru nodded, and Shikoku continued. "So after we told her we couldn't get it, she started sulking. But we had to go to class. When we got back from class, she was in our room, smiling. But we could tell she was still upset. So we went to bed, with her in the closet. In the morning she was gone. We couldn't find her, and we couldn't go around asking people about her. But she wouldn't have left. She wouldn't have."

Minazuki nodded. "We lied to the person in charge of our floor, and for some reason, the school, who should have known exactly who was in this supposed class, acted as if she was."

"Of course there is the possibility that they were merely humoring us, but I doubt that." Umisano added.

Minazuki nodded. "If they really knew that we had lied when we said she was gone, we would have gotten in trouble. I can't imagine what the school is thinking. But I suggest that you guys uncover this or get out before you disappear. And if you work for the school..." Minazuki said nothing else.

Naru jotted something down on a pad. "Mai, pass me the list." Mai grabbed the list of students who went missing. Naru adeptly flipped through the list until he reached a page that had a student named Kikuyu Shunei. "Is this her?"

The three girls nodded.

"If we label the days since we first found out about this 1-7, the school lists her as being gone on day 4. You're saying she really disappeared on day 5."

"Yes."

Naru nodded. "Thats all." The girls stood up and bowed before exiting, but Minazuki didn't leave.

"You are working for the school aren't you..."

"No!" Mai jumped up saying. Naru threw her a look, and she sat back down, crestfallen.

"We are not, but that has no relevance as to the fact that you came here on your own regardless of your suspicions. You had already decided. So what difference does it make now? You can't take back what you have said after you have said it."

Minazuki nodded, and followed after Shikoku and Umisano.

Mai was still a bit upset. "I cleaned all the dishes... They're all fit for use now."

for a moment, the room was silent, while Naru looked over all the information that they had gotten.

Takigawa decided to enter the room at that moment. "So! What does everyone know?"

Naru began to draw out his conclusions from the interviews. "We have both an age group as well as a location which this phenomenon appears to focus on. The age range would be teenagers," Ayako and Takigawa both simultaneously noted that Masako, Mai and Naru were all still teens. John too, but the category they were talking about was 13-18. "and the building with the most disappearances is a dorm. But based on what has been said, another factor is the victim's state of mind. Most of them were openly sad, or distressed. The others were openly optimistic, which means that they may have been hiding their feelings. Because emotional people seem to be the targeted group, we may draw that it is not an age group that is the target, but rather that that age range tends to be very emotional. Thereby its not a target at all."

"This would make the information regarding the disappearances of young children viable. He lack of disappearances in that age range would be because they don't worry about things as much. Although we can't discount the age factor, because of the adult category. Keeping this in mind,the population of teenagers is also much higher." Naru addressed Lin with the next statement. "Calculate the percent of each age group that has disappeared."

"It will be quite inaccurate right now. We need more information to determine it properly. And we have to factor in our presence."

"I see. Then for now, I want cameras at the following locations." Naru said, and listed off places.

The locations included the spot Nayuki had vanished from, and the hallways of the building which had many disappearances. As well as a heat sensitive one placed in one of the hallways.

There were a few other places. Mai grabbed a heat sensitive camera, and a tripod. She was still a little upset at how Naru had glared at her.

With a sad smile, she walked out the door. Ayako frowned as the usually cheerful girl seemed to be a bit upset. Takigawa wanted to warn Naru that the more he upset her, the more at risk she was for disappearing. But Naru seemed to be radiating irritation.

Neither had the guts to stand up to him.

* * *

Everyone had left to set up the cameras at the locations Naru chose. That left Lin and Naru alone in the base.

Lin turned to Naru. "You really upset her this time."

Naru had no response. He didn't even look over. He, in fact, had his eyes closed now.

"If your hypothesis is correct, and mood affects danger, you should be more careful." Lin continued, not expecting a response. Again, there was none. Because Naru believed himself to be correct already.

"As long as you have heard that," Lin said, then turned on his head set, and began relaying instructions in regards to the placing of the cameras.

* * *

When Everyone had finally returned, Naru's mood appeared to be worse. The aforesaid radiation had become more like a big blot of black ink that surrounded Naru. Get close, and you choke.

"So... what now?" Asked Takigawa, only to be smacked in the face at full force by the black ink of Naru's discontent. Although when he started to speak again, the ink turned back into radiation, as Naru's mood calmed a bit.

Naru consulted the time, which read 15:54. "I have assigned you each an area to patrol. I want you to use your abilities to see if there is anything paranormal. At 18:00, re-assemble here" Naru pulled out a recently printed, large map of the school. He had names along the side, written in colours, and had then used the corresponding colour to trace a path for them to follow. He also has smaller maps with the paths for each individual.

Mai noted the lack of her name and figured she'd be holding the fort. She also noted the lack of Lin's and his own. Did that mean she'd be alone with the ink of doom? Even if it was back to merely irritation radiation, the ink of doom could re-appear as quickly as it had gone. Mai wondered for a moment what colour her own line would have been. Masako's was black, John's was yellow, Ayako's was red, Takigawa's was brown... Their hair colours. But if brown was already taken, what colour would she get?

Ah... but she didn't get one, so it didn't matter.

Masako, John, Ayako and Takigawa filed out. Naru irritation radiation only increased with their exit. "Um... Is there anything I should do right now?" Mai asked, hoping the ink of doom was not going to come back.

Naru's irritation radiation flared, but settled. In truth, Naru didn't want another lecture from Lin, and at the same time, he didn't want to go out looking around. But, obviously, she had to do something for 2 hours... and the only thing he could think of getting her to do sent her out of the room. Ah... well... "Get me some tea."

Mai honestly wondered if it was the only thing she did that was useful. After all, she couldn't exorcise ghosts, she couldn't see them, and she had barely any skills to defend herself. But apparently she made good tea. If she didn't, would he ask for it all the time?

No. If she didn't he would have made her aware. Right away. In a very clear way. Probably along the lines of 'You're terrible/miserable at making tea.' He wouldn't dance around the idea saying that it wasn't very good. So Mai took a bit of pride in her ability.

"Okay. Lin would you like some?"

"No."

"Oh. Right then." She said, standing up and leaving. To Naru's relief, Lin said nothing else, but rather began to compile a file to send to Yasuhara, to see if he had anything to say about it.

Mai, in the kitchen, decided that she wanted tea and pulled out two cups after starting the kettle.

Two students crept up behind her. Mai was moving some knifes around in the block that they were in. She noted that they had been put in it upside down, and that the blade would have been dulled the more times it was put in that way. One of the students stood right behind her. Mai didn't notice.

"Hey."

It was a boy and a girl. The girl had spoken. Mai was so shocked she not only dropped a knife and turned, but also cut her wrist in a crude manner with the knife which happened to be serrated.

"Oww..." Mai momentarily forgot about the guests that had disturbed her as she looked for something to cover the wound.

"Oh..?" She looked up at the two. She had seen them before. But there was one more person. However, she had left right away, so she didn't get their names... Thats right. These people had been with Kazu Ometoru, who had seen Nayuki Amazara disappear. Naru had sent her out for tea.

"What is your name?" Asked the girl, grabbing the wrist Mai had cut, and holding it tightly. It hurt. Badly.

"Could you..." Mai cried softly, as her eyes filled with tears. The girl let go of Mai's hand but pushed it backwards, and it landed against the metal of the hot kettle.

"Ah!" She cried softly, holding her burnt and cut hand in front of her. The boy backed off, standing near the stairwell, watching both hallways, and the staircase up and down. A guard to announce the presence of anyone who might find them.

"Your name." the girl said. "Tell me now!" She raised her voice a bit, and grabbed Mai's now burnt and cut wrist, wrenching it in the wrong direction.

Mai didn't think that answering would be a good idea. But she whimpered a bit, before some footsteps from downstairs and a hand signal the boy at the stair case got the girls attention.

"Chizu! Aoi!" the voice coming up the stairs called. "What in the..." he started, able to dash up the stairs before Chizu had let go of Mai's hand. As soon as she did, Mai sunk to the floor.

"Chizu! What are you doing! Let her go." Mai recognized him as the last member of the party that had come before, meaning he was Kazu. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Oh come on, you noticed to. Don't say you didn't. I thought it may have just been a coincidence, but these people must have something to do with the disappearing students! _How else could this be explained!?_" Chizu said. Kazu walked over to where the two female students stood in the kitchen.

"Taniyama-san are you okay?" Kazu crouched to looked at the cut and burn. "Did she..."

While Mai was surprised that he knew her name, she said nothing about that. "Oh no, That was my fault, she didn't even know when she grabbed my wrist. I'm just so clumsy sometimes."

Chizu raised her voice. It got Naru's attention and as she spoke, he came out of the base, to see her standing and shouting, Mai and Kazu crouching together, with a final youth, Aoi, by the stairs.

"Oh quit it. You sicken me. You act just like she would and yet you say your not. Nayuki, if this is some sort of payback, then you've done enough. This is stupid! I caused you to cut your arm and yet you call it your own fault... Nayuki, this is stupid!" Chizu said, making sure she got across the point that it was stupid.

"What are you..." Mai started.

"Chizu, this is not Nayuki. I know you don't believe that she simply disappeared, but she did okay? Taniyama-san doesn't even know Nayuki!"

"Mai!" Naru called. "What is going on?" he started walking over, and both Chizu and Kazu backed away. Even if they weren't aware that the current irritation radiation wasn't as bad as the ink of doom, they still felt the volatility in his attitude towards both them and the assistant.

"Naru! Its nothing... I just cut my hand, then burnt it on the kettle. Its nothing really. I get ten times worse every other day anyway." Mai smiled, and Naru simply glared.

"Come on." He grabbed her other arm and they walked back to the base.

Kazu mirrored Naru's glare towards Chizu and Aoi, although it simply wasn't as scary coming from him.

"You just did that to that girl because the way she looks is exactly like what Nayuki looks like. Did you really think it was Nayuki in disguise? Do you really believe that I'm lying about her disappearance?"

Chizu glared. "Look. We were all drunk. She could have said completely different things than what you remember.

"Actually, Chizu, I think everyone is just disappearing." Aoi said. "The school grounds don't have a place for 52 students to be whisked away to, that not a single one would be seen going to, or be seen leaving or inside. Besides. Everyone knows they just store the luggage in locked rooms on the top floor of this building."

"Aoi. Thank you." Kazu said.

Chizu's eyes fell. "I'm..." They started tearing up. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to think that it way be something that we can't help with."

Kazu pulled out a sheet of paper. "Besides. I researched this SPR group. I don't want this getting out, because then for sure the school would send them away, but I think they really may be able to help Nayuki, and everyone else."

"Aren't they a small newspaper company in Shibuya?" Aoi asked.

"SPR- Shibuya Psychic Research." Kazu read. "While people have died while they were still working, and they have been involved in numerous dangerous situations, this group has never failed to eradicate the problem."

"Don't spread this because without a doubt if it got around they'd have to leave, but these people are here because the school is lying purposefully, and they are trying to determine the true cause. They probably acctually were called by the school."

Aoi and Chizu stared.

Kazu decided it was time to admit how he really felt about Nayuki.

"They may be able to save my Nayuki."


	4. Spirited Away 4

Hello! Thank you for opening this chapter, as per usual Anyway! Its a bit shorter than usual. Sorry.

Disclaimer: In the first chapter.

* * *

_Spirited Away  
4_-

In the base, Mai was wrapping a bandage on her hand. Naru hadn't said anything, But he didn't seem to be in a good mood. Mai didn't want to stick around for much longer.

"I doubt they stuck around for long, so I'm going to go get the tea now..." Mai said, and without waiting for a response was out the door.

But she was wrong, They were still outside. Mai clung the wall, silently listening.

"Aren't they a small newspaper company in Shibuya?" The boy that had stood at the stairs said.

"SPR- Shibuya Psychic Research. While people have died while they were still working, and they have been involved in numerous dangerous situations, this group has never failed to eradicate the problem." Kazu said. Mai's heart nearly stopped. If they decided to spread this around, then SPR would be packing it in...

"Don't spread this because without a doubt if it got around they'd have to leave, but these people are here because the school is lying purposefully, and they are trying to determine the true cause." Oh... Well hopefully they stuck to that.

"They may be able to save my Nayuki."

!

So that was why he was so concerned. He really cared for the girl. The other girl and boy were more surprised than Mai.

"What do you..."

"How long have you..."

The two simultaneously began to sputter questions. They stopped, but the girl went ahead and restarted hers first.

"What do you mean? ..y.. _your _Nayuki?"

Kazu looked down a bit shamefully. "Well... pretty much since I met her. And now... Look, I think this isn't the greatest place to be talking about it. Can we go back to your room or something?"

"Yeah... yeah... But really?" The group of three headed down the stairs. They were all so surprised that they didn't even think to look to see if anyone had listened in. Mai waited till she heard a door softly closing below, then went back to the kitchen. She quickly moved all the knives the correct way, then checked the kettle. It had finished, but was already cooling off.

Mai restarted it and stared, waiting for it to boil.

* * *

At six, everyone reassembled only to be told that there was nothing left to do for the evening. Mai had spent most of the time looking over the images in the list of students that had gone missing.

She received a bit of a surprise when the picture of Nayuki looked like her own image. The things the girl had said earlier finally made sense. Mai wondered how someone could look so similar. Anyone could have mistaken her for the girl. Mai suddenly felt self conscious, and decided that maybe she was happier she hadn't gone out to patrol. Someone may have mistaken her for the missing girl. And that would have made everything more complicated. The stares she had been receiving during the interviews started to make sense as well.

At six, Mai made her way to her room, thinking about how sad it would be if everyone who had disappeared was alone. She hoped they were at least together.

Mai stayed in her room, staring at the sun through the window. She watched it until her stomach made her get up and find something to eat. By then, it was already seven thirty. Everyone else seemed to have already eaten, as there was quite a bit less food that Mai had seen during her last trips. That and the dishes in the sink. Mai looked at the empty rack that sat on the counter, the rack on which one was supposed to put clean, wet dishes. Mai assumed this chore had been left for herself.

There were still a few plates in the cupboard, so Mai didn't have to wash it before she ate. But a closer examination of the fridge revealed little that would be suitable for simply heating and eating. Most of the things left would require preparation time... and the ever growing growl in her stomach would not allow that.

Mai opened the freezer. It held nothing more promising. In fact, there was little more than ice cubes.

With a sigh, Mai checked all the cupboards for anything, and found some dry cereal. Mai would have preferred something warm, but settled down with it and ate. It was stale, but it stopped her stomach from growling. She put on some tea while she was eating and threw that back afterwards.

She then washed all the dishes that had piled up, and left them on the rack to dry. Maybe someone else would put them away in the morning. Mai certainly wasn't planning on being the first person up. Feeling barely satiated, Mai went back to her room and fell asleep.

* * *

In Mai's dream, she saw herself sitting alone. She was crying, and she was really sad. Her crying self looked around hopelessly. She was very alone.

Mai didn't understand until she saw the uniform the girl was wearing. It was the standard Akemasu Academy girl's uniform. That meant it wasn't herself, but it was Nayuki.

Nayuki looked like she'd been crying constantly for hours. Her eyes were puffy and red. She continued to sry, unaware of Mai watching her. She sat crumpled on the floor as if her feet had given out from underneath her, and she hadn't bothered to move since then.

Someone else appeared, walking around, a little ways off. Mai recognized the girl, but wasn't sure of the name right off the bat. It came to mind though. Haruka Nanoko. She was one of the people who was aware of the fact that the school wasn't sure of what was happening, as well as part of the first group they had met. She was clutching a piece of paper.

Mai looked back at Nayuki. Nayuki saw the girl as well. Nayuki tried to say something, but no sound came out. She tried a few times, but nothing happened. Haruka didn't respond. Her walking slowed down, and became a bit more of a stuble as she took wobbly steps forward.

Mai and Nayuki both started moving a bit closer to Haruka. Once closer, they could see the paper in her hand was being mangled, and tears were welling up. Without a closer look Mai could tell that on the paper was names, and she knew that one of the names was Ami Nanoko. Haruka's younger sister. _People who were found to be missing yesterday morning..._

Nayuki's colour faded. Haruka also seemed to be covered in some sort of shadow. She stopped walking and held her hands to her face to try to hold back the tears, crushing the piece of paper she held.

Nayuki pulled her into a hug from behind. She started saying that everything would be okay. Her sister would be fine, everything would get sorted out. Mai could finally hear her voice.

But her voice was dull and quiet compared other voices which spoke up at the same time. They all chanted the same thing, louder, softer, in a detached manner, as if trying to get their own heard more so than anyone else.

_Let's go!_

Some added that they were going to some place else, someplace fun, home, other such things enticing Haruka. Nayuki held her hands over Haruka's ears, trying to prevent her from hearing. Nayuki had her own eyes shut tight as if trying to reject the voices. The voices belonged to something just out of view... Mai could see the shapes.

Mai wanted to help, she wanted to run over and cover Nayuki's ears as well, but she was held back by a hand.

"Naru.. I have to help her!"

Dream Naru shook his head. "The way you are makes you too susceptible. Please..."

Mai turned back. Nayuki was having difficulty resisting the voices now. She seemed to be fighting with more strength than before, but Mai knew she was just giving in, and upset at herself for doing so.

Mai watched Nayuki's hand which had covered her ears until then grow loose on her ears until they had fallen to Haruka's chin.

The creatures of the shadows slumped over Nayuki's feet, working their way up in a pile, Nayuki fading moreso with each creature that latched to her.

Nayuki's eyes glazed over. Her hands moved again, this time to Haruka's eyes.

Once Nayuki had covered Haruka's eyes, the creatures began to latch onto Haruka as well. Mai still couldn't see what they were. They were simply a black force that seemed to drag the two girls under.

"No!" Mai called, watching as the creatures eventually all moved to Haruka, leaving Nayuki alone again. Nayuki slowly began regaining herself. Then she blinked and she was all alone again. She fell to her knees and stared at her hands, then burst out into louder sobs than before, as if she were in a greater state of dejection.

"I..." Nayuki sputtered, the first time Mai heard her voice clearly. But it was hoarse after all the crying she had done. But she could say nothing else. She had nothing but tears now.

"Nayuki!" Mai tried to run over to the poor crying girl, who now was all normal colours. The shadows which had made her seem to be faded had all disappeared.

Naru stopped her again. "No! I want to help her!" Mai said, trying to get past him.

Nayuki looked up, straight at Mai.

She stood up, and took a step towards Mai. Mai could feel the dark creatures again, and the colour of Nayuki's uniform began to change to a more gray tone again. "No!" Naru stood between Nayuki and Mai.

"Wake up!" He called, and Mai opened her eyes.

* * *

Mai sat up in her bed, brushing tears from her eyes.

It was 8 in the morning already. The sun was plenty high, but it was hidden behind some clouds threatening rain.

Mai had to know right away if her dream meant anything. Haruka Nanoko. That would be the proof, along with Ami Nanoko.

In the base Mai found all of SPR, as well as Asa and Hana, the floor monitors of the building that had the most disappearances reporting for the morning. Mai arrived just in time to hear the information.

"We have a confirmed 17 Students who had disappeared as of yesterday morning, although todays total seems to be quite a bit smaller. As of yet 4 have been confirmed." Asa was telling Naru.

Hana spoke next. "Although we have 3 possible disappearances from this morningof people who are aware of the situation. One of which is the missing member of our group, Nanoko-san."

Asa was about to say something, but Mai cut her off. "Can I see the list of people who disappeared yesterday morning?"

"Ah.. yeah I guess." Hana said. Asa looked a bit upset that Mai had interrupted, especially since she had woken up late, and just arrived. But she kept quiet.

Mai looked over the list. It didn't take her long to locate a thirteen-year-old under the name Ami Nanoko. "Is this Nanoko-san's younger sister?"

Asa nodded. "Yeah it is..." Asa wondered how she knew that name would be there, especially since that was what she was about to point out. "We think that since it was only affirmed at about 7 last night, she may have set out looking for her sister."

"Oh..." Mai said. There was no one in the room who hadn't noticed by that point that her eyes were a little puffy and a little red.

"Right then. Thank you girls. When you have reached a final total for this morning, please let us know." Takigawa dismissed the two girls.

When the girls left, everyone stared expectantly at Mai, aside from Naru and Lin, who had both turned to their computers.

"Its probably like Asa said... I'm sure she's just looking for her younger sister." Mai muttered disheartened. She didn't want to believe what she had seen.

No one pressed her to find it out. She silently thanked them all before muttering something about breakfast. In the kitchen, she found a stack of dirty plates in the sink, and a few clean ones left on the drying rack.

Before deciding what to have for breakfast, Mai put away the dishes that were still clean, and washed what was left in the sink. Mai stared at the remains of pancakes on several plates. She grumbled about missing that. And in the fridge, the lack of fruits that she had seen yesterday were only a cause for more griping. She settled down with a bowl of stale cereal, and threw back a cup of hot tea afterwards.

The tea was serving two purposes. To get rid of the stale leftover taste in her mouth, and to appease a boss. With another cup in hand, She made her way back to the base, where she placed the cup next to Naru.

A boring hour later, Asa reported back that no one had seen Haruka, and that the two other missing people were confirmed to be missing, as well as one other that they hadn't heard about until then. If Haruka was missing, that would mean 8 in total that day only.

Using the information they knew, Mai wrote out all the disappearances.

Day - Disappearances recorded the have happened over the previous night

Day 1 - 2  
Day 2 - 3  
Day 3 - 5  
Day 4 - 6  
Day 5 - 9  
Day 6 - 10  
Day 7 - 16  
Day 8 - 17  
Day 9 - 8

The school had called them one Day 1, before knowing that there had been more disappearances. They called again the evening of Day 7, and then again on the morning of Day 8. SPR arrived at midday on day 8. 17 people had disappeared that morning. And yet today, the 9th day, less people had disappeared. At least then they knew that the ghost wasn't an intense one. It had backed off a bit.

But now the total was 77 students, including Nayuki.

Although Mai was wondering how many would disappear overnight. How many people would be listed on Day 10.

She sighed.

* * *

Naru had sent out Takigawa, John, and Masako to look around a bit more. When Ayako did not hear her name in the group of those going out she grumbled about how she should get more respect, and that someday she'd show them all.

"You know when I do, you guys will all be so shocked, you wont even believe it but I'll show you all. Someday!" She muttered, raising her voice at the end.

"Right right..." Mai said. She hadn't gotten around to sharing her dream yet, and figured maybe she'd be able to talk to Ayako about it. "But you, I didn't think it was possible for people to just go disappearing these days... I really thought that there was no such thing as being spirited away into nothingness... Even back in the day I didn't believe that sort of thing really happened..."

Naru, who had been flipping through his little book looked up, and Lin turned away from his computer. "What?" Ayako said, stunned by their response.

Naru looked to Lin. "It fits."

"What are you talking about?" Mai asked. Ayako clued in though. She realized what they were talking about. After realizing, her confusion turned to sadness. They may not have had a chance to begin with.

Naru nodded. "I've got it. This is..."


	5. Spirited Away 5

It's been a while.. eh?

^-^ Threre's probably very few people who have read this story recently, so I'm sure it'll be a new find for anyone who does open it up right now. Anyway--

A note on my 'research' will be present at the end of this chapter because... its complicated.

And to anyone who opens this story after such a long stagnation, thank you so much. I can't even hope that if you read it a long time ago (and are only now able to get over the cliff hanger) that its worth it, but I hope its enough to make you happy to read it.

Disclaimer: In the first chapter.

_

* * *

_

Spirited Away

5

_-_

Naru nodded. "I've got it. This is..."

Naru was interrupted by a sound from his computer. Without finishing his sentence, he turned to it.

"Naru?" Mai asked.

Ayako, sitting silently, had also understood it. Mai looked to her, surprised that she wasn't upset at the fact that Naru didn't tell them. "Ayako?" After seeing her expression, "What is it? Did you figure it out too?"

Ayako looked to Naru. "Well? What happened?"

"Yasuhara-san has come to the same conclusion as myself. It would seem that you also noticed Matsuzaki-san?" Ayako nodded.

"Oh come on! What is it? How did it suddenly come to mind even though there was no new information?" Mai asked, looking between the two of them.

Lin no longer had a shred of attention on anything other than his computer and keyboard. Although it didn't look very different, he was now typing at a higher speed, seemingly without even blinking. "How did everyone else get it suddenly?"

Ayako sighed. "Do you remember what you said?"

"When?" Mai asked, the answer not clearing at all in her head the way it had for the others in the room.

"Just now! 'I really thought that there was no such thing as being _spirited away_into nothingness'... remember now?" Ayako said, seeing if the girl would catch what everyone else had.

"Um... no."

"Kamikakushi" Naru said. "_Spirited Away_ is the English equivalent term."

Mai paused for a moment. Kamikakushi... it sounded familiar, but she didn't know what it was. "So why is that such a big deal? Now that we know what kind of spirit it is we can deal with it properly, right?"

"You don't know?" Ayako asked.

Mai was still confused. She looked around. Naru seemed to be irritated a bit more now. Lin was still working at full capacity on his computer. Ayako looked to be worried.

"What is so special about a Kamikakushi?" Mai asked. "I don't see what you're all so worried about!" She was starting to get exasperated. No one had really explained anything.

"Mai..." Ayako started, only to be cut off by Naru.

"There are no recorded instances of anyone ever coming back after being taken by a Kamikakushi." Naru said, without looking to Mai and Ayako.

Mai stared at Naru's back. "No way..." She started to cry a bit. "That means that everyone... Haruka and her sister... and... Nayuki... They are all gone? They won't come back? Ever? Is it even possible to stop one?"

Ayako watched as Mai wiped her eyes. Kamikakushi target people who are sad, or in distress. People who were upset about things tend to be more susceptible to being taken. To keep Mai around in such a condition... was only increasing her chances of being hurt. "Mai, why don't you go get everyone else, so we can inform them of what we discovered?"

Mai nodded, and was out the door. Ayako looked to Naru. "Are you going to keep her here with us, or are you going to send her home?" She asked.

"Here." Naru responded. Since his revelation, he hadn't done anything except check his computer. Once he did, he stood up and remained standing. Even now he hadn't moved from the spot. His eyes were blank, though no more than usual. It was as if he was completely detached from the situation, like someone who isn't interested in the movie they are watching.

"Even if we don't have anything that we can do, even though her compassion for others puts her in the most danger?" Ayako asked.

"It is necessary." Naru responded.

Ayako scoffed. "You find it necessary to put her in unnecessary danger, because you have to be able to get rid of some Kamikakushi? Nothing like this has ever happened, a Kamikakushi has never ever taken this many victims in such a short period of time."

"And because it is unlike anything that has happened before, I believe that it will be possible to stop and eradicate it." Naru turned around now, to face Ayako. Ayako could see that he believed himself, or was hiding his doubt well. Naru didn't mention anything about the people who had disappeared. Or maybe he was still just observing as if he wasn't involved.

"I refuse to allow Mai to stay here unless you do something to ensure her safety, especially during the night. And just a protection charm is certainly not enough. I don't want anything to happen to anyone on the team, but right now I believe that the one in the most danger would be Mai. If you refuse to permit her to leave, I demand something be done! Or I will be leaving with her today." The Miko spoke quietly, so that if anyone was in the hall, they would not hear. But the way that she spoke was clearly a tone that you did not reply to in a sarcastic manner.

Naru gave a sort of affirmative but non-committal sound as a response, and that was it. He turned away again.

* * *

Mai returned to the base room once she had found Takigawa, John and Masako, only to be turned outside immediately with a request for tea.

"Okay." She said, downcast, leaving the room, in the same disheartened manner she had been doing everything in since she had found out about the Kamikakushi.

She hadn't told anyone who didn't already know about it, so John, Masako and Takigawa came up with their own ideas of what the reason was. Although, their ideas coincided with each other. All of them thought she had been scolded by Naru or something of the like.

So none of them were expecting what they found to be the cause of the disappearances.

As Naru said the word, everyone took on the same sort of outlook as Mai. Dismal.

"Are you sure?" Takigawa asked. "There's nothing else this could be?"

"The chances are high." Naru said. "Though there remains the possibility that I am wrong."

"Mai-san..." John said, looking at the door. "If it is true that people who are emotional, especially sad, are targeted more, wouldn't it be best to have her escorted away from the premises?"

Naru shook his head. "Matsuzaki-san has already demanded that I do something to ensure Mai's safety."

"And?" Takigawa asked. "What are you doing?"

As Mai entered the room again with a tea, the conversation ended. The general (albeit silent) consensus of the room was that they didn't want to point out Mai to know the current danger that she in particular was in, due to the fact that it would probably just make her feel worse.

As soon as she had placed a cup in front of Naru, he began to explain. "Although 'Kamikakushi' was first used as a term to describe a mysterious disappearance that couldn't be explained in any way other than 'the anger of god', in time Kamikakushi took the meaning of a being. However the original meaning is becoming more widespread and is now the popular consensus again. Many people who were thought to have been taken by Kamikakushi are now thought to have walked off and been killed at some point or never returning. Through simply not returning home they were considered mysterious disappearances. As if a _god_ had _hidden_ them."

"Theories for the reason behind a disappearance attributed to Kamikakushi include other beings, possibly spirits. The more recent theories suggest that 'Kamikakushi' disappearances might have been all sorts of different things, lumped into one category due to their inexplicable nature. Some people determined to have been taken via 'Kamikakushi' were not noticed for a while, then never found. Other times, bodies were found after they had been missing for a period of time. There are documented disappearances similar to the disappearance of Amazara Nayuki, in which someone says that a person disappeared directly in front of their eyes."

"There are, of course, many more situation and types of disappearances that Kamikakushi could be classified into. These can be then analyzed and a pattern appears- different beings causing different kinds of situations with regards to the disappearances. However, we have the possibility of matching every disappearance in this school into only one category. Setting aside whether Amazara really did disappear right in front of Ometoru Kazu, no one has ever witnessed someone leaving school property prior to disappearing, and cameras located at exits corroborate this. Meaning that the circumstance is the same in every disappearance. If Amazara did disappear in front of Ometoru, then the other disappearances are either the same situation as hers, or she, _after_ disappearing, has caused it."

Mai gasped. It hadn't occur ed to her that the young girl that looked like her may have been causing people to disappear. In her dream, the teen looked like she was sad, and lonely. And when she tried to comfort someone else, that other person only ended up disappearing as well. If that was really happening...

"Following this line of thinking, it is possible that Amazara had disappeared for any number of reasons- but the term 'Kamikakushi' applies to the situation which followed- the disappearance of the other members of this school. Possibly, A Kamikakushi _is _an entity of some sort, and with the disappearance of Amazara, one might have been created, or conditions for the active existence of a Kamikakushi may have been fufilled, causing numerous people who fit the criteria that the Kamikakushi has set, are taken."

The silence that filled the room after Naru finished his explanation was suffocating. It held everyone's voices in their throats.

An as of yet unstoppable phenomenon was taking place in front of them. And if they were right, there was nothing they could do. Even if they were wrong there was nothing they could do.

"Hara-san. You said that you could feel their presence." Naru broke the silence.

Masako looked at him carefully. "Yes. It's as if they are around, as if I should be able to see them around, but I can't."

"Tomorrow, I want you to continue examining the school property to see if there is any location at which you can see them. I would like you to visit the building which most of the disappearances took place in to see if there is anything you can find out. Matsuzaki-san will accompany you."

"Would it be wise for me to do that?" Masako asked. "Some of the students have already recognized me, but they still think that I'm just working with this 'newspaper' operation. How long can it be before it becomes obvious that we have different objectives than we have so far advertised?"

Naru ignored her question. "Lin." Lin had still been typing at 100 percent capacity, though he stopped to listen. "Go over the thermal footage captured at the building. At least one disappearance should have been caught on footage.

"The tapes have not been collected yet." Lin said before resuming typing.

"Mai. Go get the tapes from the building."

"Understood." She said without much emotion, and headed out the base's door.

* * *

After an event-less trip to get the tapes, Mai was back in the kitchen area in time to see a new stack of dirty dishes that needed to be cleaned. She wondered what it was that everyone else was eating. So after washing the dishes, Mai once again fixed a bowl of stale cereal after which she threw back a cup of tea. Vowing to make something different in the morning, Mai headed to her room. It was around 8, and she figured she may as well go to sleep.

Ever since they started the case, it had been bad news after more bad news. And Mai was hungry and cold. In her room, Mai sat with another cup of tea, staring at the wall from her bed. Naru had said people don't come back after being taken by a Kamikakushi... So would they not be able to do this? Was there no chance in the first place? Naru seemed to think they could do something... They were still here weren't they? But even if it was Naru, aren't some things impossible no matter who it is? Mai didn't want to believe that, but...

Maybe it would all work out in their favour! Its not impossible that they might be able too! After all, they hadn't failed yet, had they?

She tried to be positive, thinking that there was a chance, but somehow it didn't seem like it. Her heart sank, thinking of what she had seen in her dream. "What if.. we can't do it?" Mai asked aloud, as if stating it would make it final. She didn't want to admit it, but it looked really hopeless. Her mood was only made worse by her empty stomach.

* * *

It was just after 8:30, when Mai finally went into her room. Naru had moved a highly sensitive thermal camera into his room while she was gathering the tapes, and pointed it at the wall facing Mai's room. This camera in particular was able to see through the wall, and on a screen in the base, the image of Mai sitting on her bed was rendered in reds, oranges and blues. Naru went back into the base, and surveyed the screen. The colours weren't as vibrant as they should have been, and details weren't clear- but there was no other option.

All of SPR was present in the room, save Mai. Ayako wanted to stay up all night, because she wanted to be awake if something happened. It seemed that nearly everyone in the room had the same idea.

At about 9:00, the image on the screen lay down, and stayed still for a while. Mai was going to sleep. If she went to bed, would that mean that she was safe from the spirit? Takigawa wondered if it made a difference, but then realized it didn't have to, since Mai sat up again and swung her legs to the side of her bed.

* * *

Mai tried to sleep, but it was too hard. She closed her eyes, and tried to make everything go away, but she was too worried. She really hoped everyone would be okay. She didn't like death, or people getting hurt. She couldn't help but think that this job might have been some sort of punishment, in that case. Since that was the majority of what their work was- people who died, and people who are hurt.

Mai stood up and started pacing. If she was going to stay up all night she would probably expend all of her remaining energy, since she still hadn't had a decent meal since arriving. And that wasn't a good idea. But she couldn't just close her eyes and slip away from all of this, because it was like running away. The darkness made her room seem small, and sad. Mai debated going onto the little porch, but decided against it since she was already cold enough.

* * *

It was nearly 10PM. Mai, since standing up, had paced about, then sat down, stood up, sat down, ad infinitum. The population in the base had not decreased, but the attentiveness towards the camera screen had decreased by 80%, or 4/5ths, since now only one of the original 5 who stared at the screen was still doing so. 2/5ths were asleep, and 2/5ths were playing with a deck of cards dug out of some place.

* * *

Mai started pacing again. She couldn't sleep, no matter how much she wanted too. She was trying to be strong, trying not to just break out into tears around everyone else, but it was getting so hard. The more she stayed awake, the more she thought about all the people that were gone, and may not ever come back, If they had a chance, and they had done something about it already, then maybe nobody would have disappeared.

Mai sniffed, and the tears came. "Its not fair that they all had to disappear. Why does something that can't be stopped even exist?" Mai cried, collapsing to the floor. "I want to be able to help these people. How is it fair that they can call us to a job that is impossible to accomplish?"

Mai had been wiping the tears off her face with her hands, but they became cold. So she balled them into fists and breathed on them, ignoring her tears.

Mai felt a pair of arms pull her into a hug from behind. It was something she really needed right then. The arms were also cold, but very comforting. She heard the voice. "Lets go!" Softly breathed into her ear. "To where they all are..."

Lets go...

* * *

Half an hour later, the card game ended. Takigawa and Ayako both looked over to the screen. Mai was pacing back and forth slowly. "At what time do you think we're in the clear?" Takigawa asked.

"I don't think we're clear now, if we can ever be." Ayako Said back, stretching her hands, and settling back in her chair.

There was a noise as the chair which Naru was sitting on fell over with the force of him standing up. The sound woke the two who slept lightly in the room, and Lin who stood up and followed Naru.

Ayako and Takigawa's eyes were immediately drawn to the screen they had adamantly observed a few hours ago, and they too dashed after Naru. Masako and John didn't even need to look and they were on their way too.

But if they had, they would have seen what the others saw.

All the mid-tone green colours that were present on the screen were quickly becoming blues. Even the orange and red humanoid shape was no longer as bright. And then, there was the below-freezing black shapes that moved, as if seeking warmth, towards the orange colour. And of course, the dark shadow behind the only heat in the room's glow.

* * *

Naru burst into Mai's room, which fortunately wasn't locked. The air inside it was colder than it should have been. He was right.

The rest of SPR was not far behind, although Naru had yet to take one step into the room. Some force was keeping him out, like he couldn't get any closer.

Masako looked in and gasped. "Naru! It's not Mai's room... its like a different place has overlapped... the place the Kamikakushi takes it's victims! Like a dimension slightly off of our own!"

Masako could see a girl that looked very similar to Mai holding her from behind. Nayuki was a Kamikakushi? "The one that's taking her is the first student to have disappeared!" All around the room, black shapeless forms moved slowly, stumbling over one another towards the two similar looking girls. "and there's these ..._things..._"

Naru still wasn't able to pass through the door, simple staring as the air inside got colder. It wasn't until Masako cried out that Mai was about to disappear that he finally was able to move past the threshold.

But once inside, it was as Masako said. The room looked the same, but felt not only cold, but off, in a way that couldn't be described, only felt.

But it didn't really matter. What was he supposed to do now? Mai looked down at the ground, colour fading from her eyes by the second. He could see shadows all over the floor, and a shadow behind Mai, but nothing solid, or stood at the door right behind where he had been, unable to pass into the room because of the same reason as Naru... A repelling feeling that forced her to stay at the door. She was yelling something as she tried her best to force her way in physically, though failing.

If being sad made your susceptibility to a Kamikakushi higher, then the reverse would also hold true, logically. So, within the next few seconds, there was only one way to take care of the situation. And that would be to cheer Mai up, with some sort of action, or by saying something.

Naru, being the only one able to get in, was left with mere seconds to come up with something to do/say that would make her feel happy, or at least better. Not his area of expertise.

Yes, cheering people up was what Mai did. It was the thing that she never failed to do when she was needed. Following that logic, Naru need only do something like what Mai would do. It was hard to follow her trains of thought, But they didn't have much time, and Mai's existence relied on it. So Naru focused everything on what Mai would do if someone were in the situation she was in.

They were running out of time, and barely a second had passed.

So Naru acted on a whim, the sort of thing Mai would do. And he really hoped it would work.

Naru moved as fast as he could to Mai, and gathered her in his arms.

"Don't worry we'll be able to do this, but we need your help!"

"Stay with us here!" He said once more. Mai felt very cold, but there was a definite reaction as he felt Mai warm up a little.

"Mai!" he called her name, rather softly.

Masako, from behind Ayako saw the Kamikakushi as well as the creatures of black that went along with it melt away.

All that was left was the room, now lacking the un-passable entrance, and Naru still holding Mai who was apparently now back to normal. She was squirming a little, and her eyes were displaying blatant shock.

As soon as she felt it gone, Ayako was through the door, and Naru had moved back from Mai.

"Mai! Oh Mai! You're okay!" She glomped the poor girl who was still in shock.

Within moments, the room was full. As soon as Ayako let go of the girl, the monk scooped her up as well. "I thought for a moment there you were actually going to leave us!" As Takigawa held her in a tight hug, she started to get bearings on the situation again.

And she realized that Naru had saved her from the Kamikakushi that had nearly taken her away. It said it would take her to the others, and she had listened.

Not her brightest move.

"I'm sorry..." Mai muttered

"Then next time, don't wander off with the first voice that promises you what you want!" Ayako said, swatting her head. "Try looking at who is saying it. If you can't see them, run for it!"

Mai apologized again and laughed nervously.

"I'm just glad you're okay!" John said. Masako said nothing, but watched as Naru exited the room right then.

Mai's stomach growled, and the more she tried to ignore it, the worse it got. Only a few moments later, Takigawa picked up on it. "Have you had nothing to eat?"

Mai explained that she had no proper food, and that as well as the repetitive washing of dishes with food scraps from real meals had contributed to her dismal attitude.

Takigawa promised pancakes or something like that (Both hot and filling) for breakfast in the morning, and said that he would definitely wake her up in time.

Mai nodded, happy to be happy again. In the meantime, she decided that she would be able to sleep now, even though hungry, so she asked the others to leave so she could get some real sleep.

As she lay on her bed she remembered Naru. He had said that they would be able to do something, but that they needed her help. Mai was happy to be told that she was useful. And more so, Naru had been the only one who came in. And he pulled her into a hug too...

The entire time passed in a blur. Mai wasn't sure of the words everyone had used, but she knew that they were all concerned. Her Mind was deperatley trying to order everything that had happened into some sort of chronological sequence that would make more sense but she was stuck on Naru. What he said... did...

Committing the feeling to memory, Mai decided that she would probably be able to sleep just fine now. "All right... I'm feeling better. I don't think you guys need to worry now."

"Are you kidding? There is no way..." Takigawa started to protest.

Naru interrupted from just outside the door. "There is no longer any danger." He appeared to be looking around the door frame.

Masako looked to Mai with a glare, blushing a bit. It caused Mai to also regain some colour in her cheeks. "I would say there is _definitely_ no danger. I'm going to sleep."

Mai looked at everyone who was in the room. All of them were worried; and now relieved. Ayako, Bou-san, John... Even Lin, famous for lacking expression had a slight smile of relief.

And Masako had been clearly worried.

And Naru...

"I think It'll be alright now... Thank you, and I'm sorry for troubling everyone at this hour of the night.

After they had finally gotten out of her room, Mai lay down on her bed, and decided that the people she was with now were the greatest. And she resolved to sleep well so that she would be able to do whatever she could to help them save everyone.

* * *

So- A note on Kamikakushi

Not only to be take 'creative licence' on this term, but to make for a much more interesting topic of writing, I have edited the true meaning of the word 'Kamikakushi'. 'Research' was minimal and limited to a few books available to me. Kamikakushi are not traditionally actually spirits of their own class/grouping. Kamikakushi is a thing that happens, not a creature. Lit, Kami= God Kakushi=hidden, or 'Hidden by God'. Wikipedia Says something about tengu causing it and all that, but I based this more off of the idea from the 'Missing' series. No, not a crossover (obviously), and not the exact same thing as that series. As far as I have figured out, 'Kamikakushi' is normally used as a description of a disappearance, similar I suppose to someone saying 'disappeared into this air'. Its not the title of some creature/being/spirit, normally. After all... I would never want a 'Disappeared into thin air' on my tail late at night... would you? Just a note on my own creative licence here, and an educational note as well. ^^


	6. Spirited Away 6

Thank you very much for once again opening this story, this chapter. I'm so happy to be able to have people who keep reading.

Anyway-- I never mentioned this before, but I always have a font associated with every story/essay/paragraph I write on the CPU-- I have to change it to Times new Roman if its an assignment for something, and on this website I can't choose, but I love having a personality of the story through the font, even if nobody else will see it... You're thinking that I'm weird... but I will now tell you-- the font for this story is-- Verdana!

ehem... anyway. As a throwback to Gakuto Coda (Missing series author) I used a quote from 'Missing: Letter of Misfortune', second book in the series. I highly recommend 'Missing' for any person who enjoys 'Ghost Hunt'... So...

Disclaimer: In the first chapter.

* * *

_Spirited Away _

_6-_

After a comfortable rest, Mai woke up rather late. Thats was exactly what was going through her mind as she was shaken awake. She was about to apologize, but it felt as if... whomever was waking her didn't have that in mind.

"Good Morning!" Bou-san was there with a smile. " I would have let you sleep a little bit longer, but breakfast is served. Better to get it hot right?"

Mai nodded. She hadn't bothered to get out of her regular clothes from the previous day, so she didn't need to bother with getting changed. She followed Takigawa to the small kitchen area. The door to the base was open, and Mai saw Lin, Masako and John inside. Ayako was standing at the counter in the small kitchen, washing dishes with glare on her face while muttering.

On the small round table there was breakfast for one. "I didn't really see what was around yesterday, but this was about all that could be made. Its a special combination, but I'm sure it will be filling and warm." French toast and plain rice. Both steaming hot, served with a glass of juice.

"You're the best!" Mai hugged Bou-san around his waist. "Although..." Mai looked up at him with a sly look. "Since when do you cook anyway?"

"Team effort." Ayako called from the counter.

Laughing, she sat down. "Thanks for the meal!" And with that, began to eat. An interesting thing about not having had anything to eat for a long time is that you don't realize exactly how hungry you are until you get a proper meal.

Meaning that it didn't take long at all for her to finish all of it.

Passing her dishes to Ayako, Mai turned just in time to see Naru walk into the base. She started blushing as soon as she saw him. Though she did notice he was holding something- a video tape. Trying to get ahold of herself, she turned to face the other direction. Facing the other was, she saw two people coming up the stairs, though 'coming' didn't give off a correct image. They were dashing, and Mai could hear them panting. Asa and Hana, slightly late for the morning report.

"You'll never believe it!" Asa gasped out.

"There wasn't..." but that was all Hana managed between gasps of breath. After a few moments of panting. "Nobody! Not one person has been found to have disappeared so far today! Nobody!"

All SPR members in the base came out of hiding at hearing this. "Are you sure?" Mai asked, while the girls continued to pant.

"Not a'hundred percent, but it looks like everyone can be accounted for!" Asa looked relieved. "Did you guys take care of everything last night?"

"No..." Takigawa started. "No but we did have a little fun last night. Maybe we have discovered something." At this, all of SPR stared at Mai, save for Naru who instead looked lost in thought.

"We can't have repelled it with just that." He said, pensive. "But it was probably a shock to it. Or maybe..." Naru's voice trailed off as he continued with thoughts instead of words.

"Anyway, we wanted to report to you first. We have to go see the principal." Asa looked to Hana, who nodded. They both dashed off again, down the stairs.

* * *

In the base, a meeting ensued.

"What happened last night was some sort of overlap in the space with another place." Masako said. "And the Kamikakushi was in the center of it, with many dark spirits all around."

"Dark?" Takigawa asked.

"Yes... not 'evil' but rather than appearing clear to me, they were just black, and mostly formless. But the Kamikakushi was clear. It has to have been Amazara-san." Masako finished.

"And the space?" Asked Ayako.

"Some sort of alternate plane I would assume. Standing near it, I could feel all the people who had disappeared so far inside it... not inside the room, but on the alternate plane."

"So." Naru began to sum it up. "Amazara disappeared for some reason, and this led to her own transformation into a Kamikakushi, and she now takes other people who exhibit mental stress up to certain levels with her."

"Meaning we understand whats going on here fully now?" Mai asked, looking around to everyone's faces. Most of the 'crowd' looked satisfied, but...

"Meaning we have a possible reason for most likely all other disappearances other than her own. What caused _her_ disappearance is the real cause of everything which has taken place. And it there is still nothing to explain the increased numbers." Naru corrected. Mai suddenly felt like nothing had changed. They still didn't know what they had to do to take care of this.

"Except..." Masako started. "That alternate plane has a weird feeling. I didn't say anything before because I didn't understand it enough, but in some of the places that people disappeared, I could feel a connection to the place we saw yesterday. One of them being where Amazara-san disappeared."

"So, we know that she became a Kamikakushi, and this new information leads us to assume that it is possibly due to being connected to the other world somehow. And the other locations you felt it... perhaps more than one Kamikakushi has been created in this place. Leading to increased numbers among those who disappear each day... but why would all of them cease action at once if that were the case? It is certainly possible that we could have sent some kind of shock into that plane which prevented them from or stopped them from trying to bring others to the other plane. Though I hardly believe this is permanent."

"Maybe..." Mai said, thinking of the dream she had had not so long ago. "Maybe its because they don't want what is happening to happen."

"What do you mean?" Ayako invited her to elaborate.

"I know its only based on a dream, but if you were all alone and really sad, and suddenly after so much time alone and sad, you see someone else, who is also really sad, and you want to comfort them, wouldn't you go to them? Without having realized that you're the very thing that will force the same fate as your own upon them, you try to console them, only to have these 'dark spirits' come over and grab the person, not only leaving you alone again, but making the person you only wanted to help disappear as well."

Nobody seemed to want to say anything, so Mai decided to finish her opinion. "Maybe, since I was able to cheep up and escape, Nayuki was able to remember what happiness feels like... and she became a little less Kamikakushi for a while, and more human again!"

"Maybe she was trying to throw away what life has become for her, her existence as a 'Kamikakushi', to become human again..."

"_'There's nothing humans have that they can't throw away, even if it is themselves'_." Naru quoted something, only to turn away. "In that may lay a method of turning a Kamikakushi back into a human, but recovering the others who disappeared can't be done in the same manner. Though, as of yet there isn't enough to be said with regards to their location, or current situation. Or maybe the recovery of the Kamikakushi would have some sort of effect. We need some sort of connection to them." Naru looked back to Masako. "Hara-san. Re-examine the locations which have connection to the place where the Kamikakushi and their victims are. And in the future, report everything properly."

Masako looked disheartened slightly, but nodded.

"John, accompany Hara-san. Matsuzaki-san, and Takigawa-san, I want you to find Shunei-san's belongings."

Ayako just stared. "Whose belongings? Am I supposed to know this person?"

"Kikuyu Shunei-san. Also, speak to Minazuki-san, Umisano-san, and Shikoku-san." Naru said, as if it was obvious who he was talking about.

Takigawa sighed. "Context-- in which context should we be remembering these people?"

Mai thought the name Kikuyu Shunei sounded familiar, and her brain linked it to something in the room, although she already had it in her hands before she realized it. Flipping through the list of people who had disappeared, she came across the name. "This girl. She and her friends tested whether the school knew ahead of time who would disappear by pretending to disappear, although she ended up actually disappearing the next day anyway. Her friends came to talk to us, although they didn't trust us- they thought the school hired us to tell them what the students thought." Mai recalled Naru getting angry at her when she strong refuted the fact to the girls.

Takigawa and Ayako were surprised by Mai's memory. "Right, so why do we need her things? And what are we supposed to speak to these people whom we don't remember properly about?"

"Find out what object it was that caused Shunei-san to become depressed enough to be targeted by the Kamikakushi" Naru said.

"Mai, using information from Hara-san, determine who resides in the places where she feels a connection to the other plane, including residents who have not disappeared."

"Also, should anyone see Ometoru Kazu, he should have something that belonged to Amazara-san. It is necessary. Retrieve it." Naru finished his instruction.

He moved over to the wall of screens, and loaded a tape that was sitting on the desk into the reader. A blank screen flickered to life, and there was an image of a room with the clock time of 10:30 on it. Naru hit a few keys on the keyboard, and the tape began to rewind high speed. The screen went blank as it did this, but suddenly turned back on after a few moments. The time stamp read 22:30. The time last night's drama took place.

With the soft tap of a key, it began to play. Everyone moved near the screen to watch, and Mai stood behind the other members of SPR who were more intent than she was to see what was playing than she was. The thermal image was one of her room. Although she swore there had been no thermal camera in her room, it didn't really make a difference now. She watched as a cold shadow appeared behind her, and the average temperature of the room dropped. Black spots appeared on the floor, and they slowly started moving towards her. They started picking up speed, and they even reached her. Mai watched as her image on screen attracted the black _things_ which kept on moving towards her, climbing over one another to cover the little remaining red.

_How did I survive! It looks like they had me completely. _Mai stared at the screen. The colour representation of the room got colder and colder. Until a figure in red stumbled slightly into the room. After a very short moment of what Mai assumed to be assessing the situation, the red light moved over to where Mai saw herself moments before being forever missing, and suddenly became shorter. Glad to be behind everyone else, Mai began to slightly blush as she realized what was happening on the screen.

It looked as if everything was jilted, as briefly all the black shadows changed to the exact opposite colour- white, and looked like they were all smudged very hard, to the point that they ceased to exist and disappeared. And the cold shadow behind Mai changed from a cold blue to a mid tone green as if faded. Meaning that as it faded away, it regained some warmth. And a flood of red infiltrated the room on the screen. Several people at once moved into the room. Mai knew what was happening here.

"Naru looked at the screen for a moment, and sped up the play-speed slightly with a few taps on the controls. Once the room on screen had been vacated by all but Mai, he immediately shut the machine down, and opened it up, to remove the tape. "Nothing else of importance can be viewed. Lin, how does this compare to any other disappearances caught on thermal camera?" He put the tape on the counter.

"The situation looks similar up until the point that you infiltrated the space, although this is the closest we have had a camera to the phenomenon. In the other situations other inhabitants in the rooms don't appear to react at all to the temperature change to any degree."

"From the inability to enter the room easily, it is most likely that the person who is targeted is shifted somewhere between this plane and the one which the Kamikakushi exist on." Naru mused out loud.

"Now, get to work."

With that, he walked out of the room. After a stunned moment, everyone save for Mai and Lin stood up to get to their assigned task.

Masako and Mai's tasks were straight forward. She just had to tell Mai which rooms or locations had the weird feeling of disconnect, and Mai would just have to compare that information with lists of who lived where. Although they didn't have that, she was sure that there were people like Asa or Hana who would be able to connect her with that information the next time she saw them.

Meanwhile, Ayako and Takigawa had a hefty task. They needed to search for people with only a vague idea of where they lived on the school premise, and a few last names, as well as recover specific belongings from the top floor of the building they currently resided in. Which had belongings from all students who had disappeared.

Once everyone had left (save Lin), Mai felt a little depressed.

Mai wasn't thinking of the simplicity of her task, nor the difficulty of the others'. She was reminded of the time Naru had gotten angry at her for getting emotional at the three female students who thought that the school had used them to get into the heads of the students. After watching the tape and being reminded of what had happened late last night, she should have felt better in general, but for some reason she just couldn't think of it when her head was clouded by simply having been scolded. Maybe she was confused as to what Naru had intended by bothering to 'save' her. It wasn't the first time she had needed 'saving', but she still felt hurt by it somehow.

None the less, she had no task which required her immediate attention, so she decided that some warm tea was in order. Upon deciding this, she offered Lin tea, but was rejected with a curt 'no thank you'. Feeling slightly more dejected, she left the base, and prepared tea.

Even seeing all the dishes clean for the first time since she had arrived made her feel a little sad. What if nobody had really wanted to do it, but felt obliged, due to her swaying moods? They didn't want her to be a risk, so they 'grudgingly' took care of everything.

But right now she was getting depressed again, which meant it had been for no reason. She started to prepare tea, but sat down at the table as the kettle did all the work.

The slight melancholy that came from that fact actually caused her to laugh at her own ridiculous thoughts. But it wasn't enough to make her feel better, and even though she knew that it was only making it more dangerous for her to be in this place.

After a minute or so, she made herself a cup of tea. There was plenty of water, so she left a pot on the counter with more tea. Maybe when Naru came back from his unnamed task, he would want some.

Sitting there with her tea, she had only managed a few sips, when a sudden sleepiness came over her. After silently berating herself for being so useless- she had plenty of sleep last night, and shouldn't have needed more- she fell asleep at the table.

Her dream was nothingness. And yet, before she had noticed who it belonged to, a gentle voice called for her. "you..!" Mai turned around to see herself.

No, Amazara Nayuki.

She looked much less distressed than last time.

"Thank you! I... I..."

Mai tried to move towards her, but not only did someone stop her by grabbing her hand from behind, but Nayuki gasped and shouted too. "Don't come any closer!"

"But..." Mai looked to see Naru behind her, holding her hand.

"Ever since I became like this, I have seen friends, and people I have never met, over and over who are so distressed. At first I tried to help them, but then something would take hold of the person, and pull them into nothingness. They were doing it _through_ me." Nayuki spoke. She had a clear voice now.

"So many people... and my fault too... But when I first saw you, I thought you were the same as me, because you didn't look sad, and everyone before had. Yet you disappeared too! I didn't even get a chance to go near you... since then I tried my best to stay away from anyone I saw."

"And then I saw you again just a while ago. I thought you were like me already, so i didn't think that there would be any problem If I tried to make contact. But... They came anyway- and I almost lost myself completely. I can't begin to imagine how many people I have hurt... but when he came in, and you suddenly rejected me somehow, They all froze. All of the things that drag people off became something I could properly see. Not only did I regain my senses... My thoughts became my own.. I suppose that's why I can talk to you right now."

"You still are in the normal world right? I'm not, right?" Mai nodded as Nayuki asked the question desperately.

"Then tell someone! There wasn't as many of them before, but now... That's not what is important... I... I know what the black figures are! And there are more and more... but I know what they are... and it only makes me feel worse..." She was getting desperate. The way her voice was accelerating was such a change from the way she had been so calm only moments before.

"They are the people I have taken! Not all of them, a few people I remember... taking weren't there... but after you rejected me I saw them properly and they were all students of this school! I recognized friends... I condemned them, and they ended up like that!"

"Please tell someone and save them!" Nayuki called loudly, once again crying uncontrollably.

Mai tried to run over once again, but Naru held onto her hand tightly. "I can't let you near her." He said softly.

"Nayuki! I... we..." Mai wanted to say that they were going to save them all... but how could they? The image of the black things turning white and disappearing in such an abnormal manner was imprinted on her mind... what could they do?

Nayuki and Naru were both gone, and Mai felt her eyes wet. Then she opened them to find herself at the table in the small kitchen next to the base. There were tears in her eyes.

Of course there were. Maybe they could save Nayuki. Maybe there was a small chance. But for some reason Mai didn't think the formless black creatures that were the other people who disappeared could be saved. Although it was just a feeling, which meant nothing in the end, she had been right with her feelings before.

Footsteps coming up the staircase rattled Mai's thoughts. Maybe it was Naru coming back. She was quite lucky, in that case, having woken up before he saw her sleeping. A hand on her teacup revealed that she hadn't been asleep for too long.

But it didn't matter, because the one who came to the top of the stair case was not Naru, but Kazu Ometoru.

Mai wished that she had not been the one who saw him. Now she was supposed to say they he had something that belonged to Nayuki, and they needed it? She blinked back her tears. If he hadn't seen them, maybe she could act as if nothing happened.

"Taniyama-san?" He looked at her in a way that Mai didn't find particularly comfortable. Maybe he had seen the tears.

"Yes, what is it?" She busied herself with her tea.

Kazu seemed to be irritated with something. "If I ask you a question, will you answer it truthfully? No matter what?" The situation was pretty good. Mai decided to use this as a bargaining chip to get her hands on whatever it was that the boy had that belonged to Amazara-san. If she could only hold back her tears. Somehow, since she was the spitting image of Nayuki, whom he cared for, she felt that crying was a cruel thing to do.

"If you give me something we need." Mai said firmly. Although she then decided it may have been a bad idea... maybe she should have listened to the question first... what if it was something she couldn't/wouldn't answer? Her tears were successfully held back. Now with more confidence, she held her head a bit higher.

"Yeah! Anything!" Kazu said, determined. "You guys... I just want the truth... aren't a small newspaper company, right? You're really ghost hunters, right?"

Mai didn't answer.

"I already searched for information about you, so I'm pretty sure you are. I just wanted to hear it from one of you guys to be sure." He said, still waiting for his answer.

"Why do you want to know?" Mai asked innocently. She felt herself burying her tears inside. She could not be cruel to him.

"Because..." He struggled over word choice. "Because I want to know if you can help Nayuki! And everyone!"

Nope. _I don't think that we will be able to save them. Come to think of it, why did I even have a feeling that we could save Amazara-san? How did I get that hope?_ Her tears came out. Huddled over her cup of tea, tiny drops of salt water dropped into her cup.

"What the...? Taniyama-san! I'm sorry!" He gasped.

"I don't think we can." Mai said quietly. "I don't think we can. Kamikakushi... its just unheard of." She looked up. Kazu saw the same eyes that had been in front of his just before when Nayuki disappeared. The gaze, as if it had physical force, hit him and made him look away.

"But Naru said..."

"'Naru'?"

"He said you have something that belonged to Amazara-san... he said we need it. But I can't ask you for that. If you have it, its because its important to you... right?" Mai brushed away the tears which overflowed, and began to calm down.

Kazu closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them once more with determination. He held out his wrist, which had a this silver chain coiled around it several times. Undoing the clasp, he removed it. "Its a necklace I gave her. She took it off just before she disappeared."

"If SPR needs this, then please, by all means take it for now. But please give it back..."

Mai looked at him. He placed the necklace on the table. "You're strong."

"Not at all." He looked really hurt.

He walked down the stairs, and Mai stared at the necklace.

Then it struck her. This entire time, he had been so sad. Tormented... the person he cared for disappeared in front of him. After removing a present from him. He must have been tortured, and not being able to see Nayuki.

Why had he not been targeted by the Kamikakushi?

* * *

Mai walked back into the base where Lin was still typing as per usual. She had refilled her tea cup and grabbed the necklace. She placed both on the small coffee table, and sighed. She was still feeling depressed. How could they save anyone?

Lin, looking in the reflection off of one of the screens lined up against the wall, saw the young part-timer sigh heavily. With a slight sigh of his own, he continued typing for a moment, only to remember something.

"If you have nothing else to do, watch the rest of that tape." He pointed to the tape that Naru had left on the counter. Her encounter with the Kamikakushi.

"Why bother?" Mai said. "Naru said there's nothing important."

But she didn't really have anything else to do. Lin didn't say anything, but she decided to do it anyway.

Putting the tape back into the machine, the screen hooked up it flickered to like. It was the last frame they saw before Naru turned it off. Hitting play, the image of herself sleeping, rendered in a kaleidescope, stayed stationary.

Three minutes passed. Nothing changed.

She didn't feel like watching nothing happening all day, so she moved to turn it off, when something changed. A new figure entered the room, about 5 minutes after everyone else left.

The figure sat down near the foot of the bed where her other self was asleep.

_It couldn't possibly be..._ She looked carefully, but she couldn't be one hundred percent sure of who it was.

After fidgeting with the controls, Mai found the fast forward. She watched the time in the corner speed up. 23, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4... as she lay there shifting slightly around in sleep, that person sat there on the ground at the end of her bed.

As it got closer to the time she woke up, she slowed the playback speed to only a little faster than normal time. The person suddenly perked up. Mai saw whoever it was stand up, and leave the room to the balcony, rather than the hallway. Their image disappeared completely once outside. Someone entered through the regular door, and Mai's thermal-image self stood up on screen.

_That's Bou-san. And... Ayako was in the kitchen... Lin, Masako and John were in the base..._

_Then that means..._

Mai's image left the screen, and the person on the balcony came back into the room. After a momentary pause, the figure left the room. About a minute later, the image shut off, and the tape came to an end.

Hurrying, Mai rewound the tape to the point that it had been at before.

Removing it, she tried to create doubt. Who else could it have been?

She only saw Naru after she had sat down... but at that point.. he had been holding a tape... _This tape!_ Realization came.

And the 'nothing important' was because he knew what happened afterwards...

_Naru..._

Rejuvenated once again, Mai smiled happily. _He had stayed to watch over me..._

_Maybe he really does care... a little._


End file.
